Sheriff gets green light for expanded use of ankle bracelets

Because of crowding in the county's five jails, the Sheriff's Department last year let out nearly 7,000 inmates to make room. More than 2,000 of them were waiting for court appearances, and 29 percent failed to show up.

To get at the failure-to-appear problem and create more space in jails, the sheriff proposed to send some inmates who have pending court dates home on ankle bracelets equipped with global positioning system devices that let authorities track them.

According to a staff report, the county anticipates 100 inmates will participate in the program through the remainder of the fiscal year, or through June, at a cost of $39,000.